Number of passengers drops at Wichita airport

Passenger numbers are in a holding pattern at the Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita.

Associated Press

Passenger numbers are in a holding pattern at the Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita.

The airport's latest passenger figures show the number of passengers at the airport fell 4 percent in December, compared to the same month of 2011. Passenger numbers for all of 2012 dropped 2 percent.

The Wichita Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/10Ja91r ) that 115,595 passengers used the airport in December, compared with 120,822 in December 2011. In all of 2012, there were 1.51 million passengers, compared with 1.537 million in 2011.

Airport officials say the numbers were down because Allegiant Air and Frontier stopped services to the airport.

However, Southwest Airlines is expected to begin flying in Wichita on June 2, with daily flights to Chicago, Dallas and Las Vegas.